Alcohol level far above limit in Lodi crash

Tuesday

Nov 5, 2013 at 12:01 AMNov 5, 2013 at 9:12 AM

LODI - A Lodi man who authorities said is responsible for a horrific car crash that killed five members of the same family and an unborn child had a preliminary blood alcohol level 21/2 times the legal limit, and his speedometer read 100 mph at the time of the crash, police confirmed Monday.

Keith Reid

LODI - A Lodi man who authorities said is responsible for a horrific car crash that killed five members of the same family and an unborn child had a preliminary blood alcohol level 21/2 times the legal limit, and his speedometer read 100 mph at the time of the crash, police confirmed Monday.

Ryan Morales, 28, was driving on southbound Ham Lane near Vine Street at 5:21 p.m. on Oct. 22 when he reportedly crashed into two other cars, including a Ford F-150 pickup carrying a family of six, including a pregnant woman.

Lodi police Lt. Sierra Brucia confirmed reports on Monday night that a blood-alcohol test taken after the crash by medical personnel indicated that Morales had a 0.20 blood-alcohol level at the time of the crash, 21/2 times the state's 0.08 legal limit.

The speedometer of his GMC Yukon sport utility vehicle was also stuck at 100 mph, according to the search warrant that police have used to gather further evidence in the case, Brucia said.

"We won't use any of this as evidence," Brucia said. "The hospital's blood alcohol-level is not admissible. We have to wait of the Department of Justice to submit an official blood-alcohol level. We won't use the speed, either. We'll use the official numbers we get from the data in the vehicle's black box."

The numbers that are submitted in court could be different than what are stated in the search warrant affidavits, Brucia said.

Morales has been in and out of jail in recent years, including a recent stint for recklessly evading a peace officer in Alameda County.

Lodi Police Chief Mark Helms and San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Robert Himelblau announced last week that they plan to pursue charges of second-degree murder for the crash because Morales got behind the wheel with a "disregard for human life."

Morales allegedly consumed a 750-milliliter bottle of apple-flavored vodka with his father before driving his Yukon on Oct. 22, and witnesses reported he was on a cellphone while driving at extremely high speeds in the 35-mph zone on Ham Lane at Vine Street.

The Lodi community has rallied around efforts to support Eden Miranda. A group that calls itself Lodi Strong held a communitywide yard sale on Saturday and raised $21,000 to place into a trust fund for him, according to the group's Facebook page.

A week prior, a community carwash raised $12,000 and multiple other fundraisers have also contributed what could amount to thousands more.

Services for the deceased members of the Miranda-Rodriguez family were memorialized at St. Anne's Catholic Parrish in Lodi on Thursday. Their bodies are being flown to Guerrero, Mexico, to be buried.